Alphonse returned, blasé, indifferent. "There are no books," said he, devoid of all interest in the affair.
"No books?" cried the general. "Alphonse, what has become of them? Did you take them out of the car before we left?"
"No," said Alphonse, and violent, positive protestations could not have been more convincing.
"But where are they? I left them in the car."
"They probably fell out, father," said Henrietta.
"They have never fallen out before," snorted the general, with base suspicions against Henrietta.
"We can get another to-morrow," said Henrietta. "We will simply return to the hotel in the village for the night." And once more she replaced the napkins in the basket.
"Yes," agreed Bartlett. "There is a good hotel near the railroad tracks."
"Where are the railroad tracks?" asked the general, who had lost all faith in Bartlett's knowledge of the country. "We passed no railroad tracks."
"Just before you come to the village," retorted Bartlett, irritated as a badgered animal. "You have to cross them as you come up the main street."